Real Volts Now Under Construction
For everyone who keeps asking when the first Chevrolet Volt will roll off the assembly line, you now have your answer: in less than two weeks. Well, we should say the first complete, pre-production Volt will be built, by hand, for final testing by then.
This is the first time the automaker has built a test mule Volt that actually looks like the real thing – inside and out. Before now, all Chevy Volt prototypes looked like the 2011 Cruz or old Malibus. Underneath, the mules carried the Voltec technology that will propel the plug-in hybrid up to 40 miles on just electricity.
The latest prototypes will help validate the Volt’s safety and performance capabilities. Building a complete Volt will also help GM decide how to effectively manufacture the plug-in hybrid to ensure that build quality is consistent and reliable.
The first Volts will take an average of two weeks to build, but by mid-July assembly will ramp up to 10 a week. By the fall, GM expects to have 80 on the streets.
After that, GM will build hundreds of pre-production Volts at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant. That’s where the real Volt will be built, showing up at a Chevy dealership near you in the summer of 2010.
That will only happen, of course, if everything stays according to the automaker’s current plans, even amid a seemingly unavoidable bankruptcy filing.
GM Builds the First Chevrolet Volt (Autopia)
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Alrighty then! I'll look forward to seeing on these on the road soon.
Quick clarification, the Chevrolet Volt won't arrive in dealerships until very late 2010 because production starts in November 2010. Also, it's the Chevy Cruze.
Find out more at http://twitter.com/philcolley or http://twitter.com/gmblogs
Really? You're really going to shell out $40k for this? You could have 2 Honda Insights and gas money for a year for the price of one of these. Or you could get an Insight and a Prius.
Spanky:
Insight doesnt get $7500 rebate. Volt would be $32,500 after rebate. Also the Insight is pretty low tech in terms of features, its a basic economy car that happens to be a hybrid. I suspect the Volt will be more like the Prius.
40 K for this? I wouldnt consider it for more than 25K. Its dead on arrival !
Does anyone know or have a link to the specs for the production model of the Volt?
Also if people can get the 7500 rebate making the Volt $32,500 after rebate. the volt would be in buyers range esp if it has lux trim.
BTW I agree with OS there is more than an insight here.
Honda Insight that is
The $7500 tax credit may not exist by the time the Volt rolls out. The Bush administration developed the bill and capped it at 250,000 units, however the Obama administration LOWERED it to 200,000 and excluded diesels. Any hybrid that has plug-in capability is eligable and once the first 200,000 applications are filled the program is closed. They should have made the rebate $10,000 for the Volt and made it exclusive to it, but the government is not serious about invoking change. Also you don't know if you get the Fed rebate until AFTER you buy the car as you have to go through the application process and get approved.
Dave:
What plug in hybrids will be on the market before the Volt? Few if any. Toyota's first plug ins wont even be sold to the public, they will go to fleets for further testing and evaluation. Ford is promising a plug in by 2011 or 2012. The tax break will be in effect when the Volt comes out.
Even if some people say it will not sell, I believe it will do... same as the Prius, the market is for the "holier than thou" greenies, even the NY Times wrote an article saying that for most the Prius users the main reason for purchasin a Prius is the "image", not the fuel economy... probably that explain because the Civics or Camrys hybrids haven't sold, they don't have the public image these buyers need.
This is a good idea for this car, they owners will be able to show off.
An unproven car with unproven reputation or reliability history or a Toyota Prius that has 12 years and 2 generations of proven history, solid reliability and a hundreds of thousands of units sold?
40k for the Chevy, 21k for the Toyota?
Tough choice.